What we've been up to

 

1. Outreach / Education

One of SOFT’s strategic focuses has been on outreach / education at community events and through our newsletter. This includes advocacy / education in schools, street demonstrations / sign waves, and tabling at community events where we invite the public to sign petitions and speak up for sustainable forestry. 

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We've also hosted public events to help raise awareness. On March 11, 2026, we hosted a showing of the film Trouble in the Headwaters, followed by a discussion on the effect of clearcut logging on our local watershed.

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On June 15, 2026, we are hosting the New Forest Act Roadshow at the Stan Hagen Theatre, to discuss the future of forestry in BC. 

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Outreach / Education helps to create public support for the need to change BC forestry management practices and protections of old-growth forests and species at risk. We encourage the public to voice their concerns to the local and BC governments and take their own action through writing, phoning, and petition signing. Encouraging the public to engage with government leaders increases our influence (provincially via petitions, and locally via petitions and presentations to council. This impresses on the government that there is huge public support for changes to be made in the way we practice forestry in this town / province.

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2. Advocating for the New Forest Act 

SOFT-CV is all too aware of the desperate state of forestry in British Columbia, cause by decades of relentless overharvesting and a disregard for the environment. That's why we support the New Forest Act as proposed and promoted by the Boundary Forest Watershed Stewardship Society (BFWSS). 

 

We've shared more information on the NFA here. ​​

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3. Advocating for Urban Forests

SOFT-CV's subcommittee, Save Comox's Urban Forests (SCUF), has been actively publicizing tree-related issues in Comox for several years. This includes participating in the Comox Urban Forest Management Strategy project, and Comox Official Community Plan process, as well as meeting with and pressing Comox Council to implement an effective tree bylaw. 

 

4. BC Investment Management Corporation (BCI) lobbying - Private Managed Forest Lands

BCI, through the major ownership of TimberWest Forest Corp. and Island Timberlands, owns / controls most of the forest land on the east coast of Vancouver Island from Victoria to Campbell River (lands managed by Mosaic Forest Management (MFM)). BCI manages most of the public pensions (BC and municipal employees, BC Hydro, BC Ferries, teachers, ICBC, etc.). BCI has a well-developed Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) investment strategy which indicates that they will hold companies accountable through proxy votes on climate / environmental goals. Many communities on the east coast of Vancouver Island have significant water shortages and SOFT-CV has been pressuring MFM to manage these lands for improved watershed stability through an end to old-growth logging, decreased harvest rates in second- and third-growth forests and increased recruitment of mature second-growth forests into old growth stands. MFM’s PR staff has shown no interest in changing the way it manages our forests. We have shifted to lobbying BCI on upholding the ESG goals that it claims to positively report on each year. We are looking for ways to reach out to BC pensioners so that we can all challenge BCI to show how it is managing their pensions and supporting the watershed stability and biodiversity on the east coast of Vancouver Island.